Archive for January, 2010

2010 Is Looking to be a Busy Year

It seems that 2010 will be a busy year for me.

Although the past few months have involved a lot of staring at screens and pointless Internet surfing, I return to university in a month or so, and have taken on a second job, which I start on Tuesday.

A quick list of what 2010 will involve regarding university and work:

  • Completing the second year of my B.A.
    Still with majors in psychology and anthropology. In addition to just “completing” it, I also need to maintain a First-Class Honours average grade in psychology so I can complete an Honours year in 2012, which will allow me to study postgraduate psychology, which, in turn will qualify me to have a career in psychology. I’m still undecided whether I’d prefer to be a practising clinical psychologist or an academic.
  • Continuing work at my casual job at the DVD rental store (Job One)
    It has proven to be fun so far — I enjoy working there. It also comes with the bonus of free rentals. For example, I rented Up recently, which is Pixar’s best film to date (Wall·E is overrated!), and Orgazmo (a colleague recommended it), which had a few cheap laughs, but was generally crap. I also get an $0.75 pay rise in the not-too-distant future, which is a bit exciting. As a casual, though, it’s impossible to predict annual income with any degree of certainty.
  • Starting my second casual job at a computing department (Job Two)
    Some of the tasks I may complete include user authorisation, collecting payments for payable services, replenishing printer consumables, providing support in the use of hardware and software, and aiding in repair and maintenance of equipment. I’m sure I will enjoy this job; it seems that there’s a fair amount of independence, and having many different tasks to do is excellent, too.

I struggled with the concept of “how much is too much, when blogging about your job?” whilst writing this entry. I think the information I wrote is fine, but I probably wouldn’t go into much more detail at all.

Posted on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 in About me, Daily Life, Media, Money and Work, University and Study · 10 Comments »

The Decemberists, Billboard the Venue (Melbourne, Australia), January 24, 2010

Jenny, Nate, and Colin of the Decemberists on stage performing

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will be completely aware that I saw one of my favourite bands, The Decemberists, perform last night. They’ll also have read my total meltdown afterwards (and there’s more where that came from).

We arrived at the venue at 7.00 (doors opened at 8.00), and were second in line. When doors did open we grabbed some pretty, pretty good positions (i.e., directly behind the fence in front of the stage). We then waited for the support band to come on stage. They were called Bridezilla and had a sexy violinist who was in front of me, but there’s not much to report about them apart from that.

At 9.30, The Decemberists came on. During the show, Colin explained that as it was their first time performing in “Melbrrn” (and Australia, even), so they played an assortment of songs from their last three albums (and one EP), rather than focusing on their latest album, The Hazards of Love, which is perfectly fine, of course — Hazards is a gapless concept album, and features guest vocals for many of the songs, anyway. Plus, I wanted to hear a lot of their older stuff.

So! Here’s a rundown of what was performed:

  • The Tain
    In all its 20 minutes of glory! Totally didn’t expect them to play this. Colin also looked me in the eye for the first time at some point during the song. How exciting.
  • The Sporting Life
    Apparently this was based on an undisclosed member’s experiences in a YMCA soccer team.
  • Billy Liar
  • The Rake’s Song
    One of my favourite songs from The Hazards of Love. If something from that album was to be played, I wanted it to be this.
  • Annan Water
    Second and final song played from Hazards.
  • The Crane Wife 1 & 2
  • The Crane Wife 3
  • O Valencia!
    One of my most favourite Decemberists songs. Perhaps one of my favourite songs ever. I’ve sung it countless times at the top of my lungs while home alone, and seeing it on the set list made me all sorts of happy. At this point, someone behind me fainted and was dragged away. I think he fainted from the sheer awesomeness.
  • Sixteen Military Wives
  • Encore One — Bye Bye Pride
    Not a Decemberists song, but a cover of a Go-betweens song.
  • Encore One — Sons & Daughters
    Seeing this listed on the set list as the last song made me think “really?”, as it’s not what I thought would be a good closer. However, it ended up being the highlight of the night.
  • Encore Two — The Mariner’s Revenge Song
    It appears that the second encore was unplanned, as the stage crew had already started to pack up, and the song wasn’t listed on the set list. But I was glad they came back out. The band was crazy in the coolest of ways, acting as if they’d been swallowed by a whale, which is, of course, what the song is about. And this is a nine-minute song, as well as one of my favourites of theirs. And it was one of the songs in which Jenny played accordian!

After it was over (nooo!), the stage crew chucked the set list into the audience, so I had to grab it (I’d planned on yelling at them to give it to me when they were cleaning up, but this worked out better).

In conclusion? Pretty much one of the best nights ever. $63.35 spent very, very well.

More (poor-quality) photos below, full set on Flickr. Turns out I could’ve brought my camera, rather than just my phone, to the venue, as security was not bothered by people taking photos, despite what the Internet said.

(more…)

Posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 in Australia, Media · 1 Comment »

« Older Entries